A few years ago, Warner Brothers released a DVD set of 35 Clint Eastwood films. It was essentially 35 years of Eastwood, since he made a movie a year, though it skipped over non-Warner movies like In the Line of Fire and The Eiger Sanction. It was also not a Blu-ray set, begging the question, “Why not just put these films on Blu-ray too?” They have released smaller collections of Eastwood Blu-ray titles but the answer seems to have come in the latest press release: they were waiting for 40, another nice, round number.
Warner Home Video has announced a June 4 release date for The Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection. It goes from Where Eagles Dare to Trouble with the Curve (the 35 set stopped at Gran Torino). This includes Blu-ray debuts of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, City Heat, Honkytonk Man, Bronco Billy and, surprisingly, Bird.
Or, if you’re not ready to commit to 40 years of Eastwood films (on and off, dating back to 1968), you can take baby steps with The Clint Eastwood 20 Film Collection, which limits your commitment to the surefire hits like Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Outlaw Josey Wale, Pale Rider, Letters from Iwo Jima and only three of the Dirty Harry films (no Enforcer or Dead Pool. That alone is a compelling case for the 40 film set). Yet the 20 film set still has Trouble with the Curve so they’re really pushing the new release.
I had a lot of fun revisiting Eastwood’s career in the 35 DVD set. It is in many ways a portrait of the last 40 years of cinema, since Eastwood was a leader in the art and industry this whole time. There was a fine balance of Oscar fare, ‘80s action, ‘70s grit, some thrilling war movies, western riffs and of course the monkey movies. There are some duds in the bunch, but observing what didn’t work for Eastwood is just as interesting as his classics. Well, less so in the recent Oscar bait decade, but seeing his attempts to adapt to changing audiences was cool. Revisiting all the films in Blu-ray detail will add another dimension, and just having an excuse to watch them all again will be welcome.
As far as shelf space goes, the 35 DVD set was in a beautifully illustrated, slim book that hardly takes up any room. With similar packaging and presuming thin Blu-ray cases, The Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection should fit nicely alongside it for the HD alternative. And are you really going to just buy the 20 film pack? What are you, some kind of punk?
The Clint Eastwood 20 and 40 Film Collections street on June 4 from Warner Home Video. Below is the complete list of films in each collection, via the WHV press release:
Film Titles for Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection
1. A Perfect World
2. Absolute Power
3. Any Which Way You Can
4. Bird
5. Blood Work
6. Bronco Billy
7. City Heat
8. Dirty Harry
9. Every Which Way But Loose
10. Firefox
11. Gran Torino
12. Heartbreak Ridge
13. Hereafter
14. Honkytonk Man
15. Invictus
16. J. Edgar
17. Kelly’s Heroes
18. Letters from Iwo Jima
19. Magnum Force
20. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
21. Million Dollar Baby
22. Mystic River
23. Pale Rider
24. Pink Cadillac
25. Space Cowboys
26. Sudden Impact
27. The Bridges of Madison County
28. The Dead Pool
29. The Enforcer
30. The Gauntlet
31. The Outlaw Josey Wales
32. The Rookie
33. Tightrope
34. Trouble with the Curve
35. True Crime
36. Unforgiven
37. Where Eagles Dare
38. White Hunter Black Heart
39. Eastwood Factor Documentary
40. Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story Documentary – NEW!
Film Titles for Clint Eastwood 20 Film Collection
1. A Perfect World
2. Dirty Harry
3. Every Which Way But Loose
4. Firefox
5. Gran Torino
6. Heartbreak Ridge
7. Hereafter
8. Invictus
9. J. Edgar
10. Letters from Iwo Jima
11. Magnum Force
12. Million Dollar Baby
13. Mystic River
14. Pale Rider
15. Space Cowboys
16. Sudden Impact
17. The Gauntlet
18. The Outlaw Josey Wales
19. Trouble with the Curve
20. Unforgiven
21. Eastwood Factor Documentary
22. Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story Documentary – NEW!
[Editor’s Note: The art for this article comes from the Clint Eastwood 35 Film Collection.]
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
